Please Welcome My Guest...

Please welcome my guest, Romance Author Terri Rochenski. Terri started writing stories in the 8th grade, when a little gnome whispered in her brain. Gundi’s Great Adventure never hit the best seller list, but it started a long love affair with storytelling. 

Today she enjoys an escape to Middle Earth during the rare ‘me’ moments her three young children allow. When not playing toys, picking them back up, or kissing boo-boos, she can be found sprawled on the couch with a book or pencil in hand, and toothpicks propping her eyelids open. 

Interviewing your characters

I’m a true planner and couldn’t be a panster for any story but flash fiction. Every novel I write starts out as files, notebooks full of notes, and binders with sheet protectors. Notecards. Timelines. Outlines.

Yes. I’m extreme.

The best part of being so organized? The character interviews. With a premade sheet (three actually) of questions, I imagine myself in a comfy chair across from each of the main characters of a story.

I’ve been surprised more than once by a side of a character I never expected to see. Secrets that make them who they are. Often these instances bring about sub-plot ideas, conflict and tension beneath the surface of what would have otherwise been a shallow story. 

We banter back and forth, and along with their answers, I make sure to jot down every mannerism and reaction. Every telling twitch I can use to flesh them out on paper, and make them seem real for my readers.

I’m a firm believer in that if you’re going to commit to telling a character’s story and getting their arc right, then you need to know them like you do your best buds. Even if their favorite color or most embarrassing moment has no impact on the story, knowing such things brings a closeness between us and our characters. This makes it easier to hear their voice and be consistent.

Am I nuts, or do you interview the voices in your head?

Blurb:

Hired as a nanny for her cousin’s children, Anne Tearle finds security and a loving family. The children are a dream, but London society is a world of its own, one where a displaced farm girl has no business being. But, wealthy rake, Gavin MacKay, helps her to see associating with the upper class might not be as horrid as she first assumed.

Like all things worthwhile, love comes at a price, and the cost soon bestows more anguish than joy. Lost, but not undone, Anne must find the courage to begin life anew, or succumb to sorrow's unrelenting waves of grief.

Purchase Links:

 Print

Createspace (Best Option)
Amazon

eBook
Amazon
Bookstrand
Smashwords

Link for Love’s Sorrow on Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21455386-love-s-sorrow

Ms. Rochenski’s Links:

Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

Follow Terri on the rest of her blog tour --